On April 25, 1974, the people and the military removed the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal.

On February 25, 1986, the people and the military did the same to the Marcos dictatorship.

This “fado novo” song from Portugal also has relevance to Filipinos.

It is about the aspirations of the people. It is about forming a nation. It is the theme song of a movie about the Portuguese people power in 1974.

The English translation is below, the Youtube video showing scenes from this movie of people power is above.

Yes, that’s how my hand
emerged from a deep obscure silence
and carefully saved a place on Earth
for a Spring flower and everything

An April morning A pure gesture matched The expectations of a multitude, Which was placing all their hopes on it, So as to later find out that the meaning That leads a whole nation Takes time to be built

And there we were left Deeply thinking about whether That gesture was something secure

And there we were left With our hesitations To enter the mists of the future

Ponte de 25 de Abril, formerly Ponte Salazar, with Cristo Rei statue

With what word would the next prudent gesture call the loneliness in us Which was driving us to despair In the middle of the night, cold and still, In a land without any consolation?

And so I fell asleep Believing that We had changed the world. And late in the night We could hear the crowd Screaming our deepest dreams

But furthermore One more gesture,Opening doors to a new beginning Left words of order Written in the walls of the city The laws of fear were broken Bit a bit, It showed to us the way to go and showed to each one the voice of the whole And showed that the whole’s voice is the voice of each one

This is a fado song. Fado means fate. Portuguese were fatalistic too before like Filipinos.

They were also vindictive. This is the paraphrased text of a song of Amalia, a famous fado singer from the Salazar period:

I have heard that women washing by the riverAre talking about your menhacking the wood for my coffin

You can pay your menBut you cannot buy your life

They have learned from experience. To make their own fate which is what fado novo is about. They have learned justice without vindictiveness.

They had a hard time after their revolution as well. But they achieved their aspirations by striving and seeking, finding and not yielding.

They found a way to grieve and learn from grieving – the fado is the blues of a long-suffering people, their way of releasing emotions.

And the composer of the first song is Pedro Ayres Magalhaes. A Magellan. So be it: a Filipino with the surname of a Portuguese dictator.

Brings you a song by a man with the surname of the first to invade us. May democracy survive, and dictatorship remain banished.